News Round-up: Susan G. Komen vs. Planned Parenthood

Between
Pfizer’s major recall of birth control pills
(if you haven’t checked your packs yet ladies, do it now!) and the news-dominating debacle between the Susan G. Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood, it’s been quite the week for women’s health in the news.

If you’ve had a little trouble keeping up, we’ve got just the solution—a round-up of the best coverage on the web. Read on to find out what exactly went down this week between Komen and Planned Parenthood.

The Events

Up until this week, the Komen Foundation has given grant money to Planned Parenthood ($680,000 last year) in order to help fund breast cancer screenings and mammogram referrals. On Tuesday, the foundation announced that it would be
withdrawing this support
, citing a criteria that prevents the foundation from funding any organization currently under investigation (which Planned Parenthood is—an investigation led by a Florida congressman is trying to determine if the organization is violating the law by using federal funds to pay for abortions).

While the insults were flying at Komen, the dollar bills were flying at Planned Parenthood—in just one day, it raised almost as much money as it had lost in the funding cut, including promises from New York City Mayor Bloomberg and Livestrong to match donations up to $250,000 and $100,000 respectively.

In a scramble to revive it’s image, Komen founder and CEO Nancy Brinker stated that there had been a misunderstanding and that
the real reason for the funding cut
was that Planned Parenthood does not actually provide mammograms, only mammogram referrals, and that Komen would prefer to fund organizations providing direct service. When this still did not help Komen's case (and in fact caused more speculation about the real reasons behind its actions),
Komen announced on Friday that it would be reversing its decision
. The wording used, however, leaves some supporters unsure as to whether Planned Parenthood will actually continue to receive Komen's funding in the future.

Moving Forward

Throughout the week, Brinker has been lamenting that all this debate is distracting from the Foundation’s real goal of fighting breast cancer and caring for women’s health. And I would love to be able to say that only five days after this whole mess began, it’s been resolved and we can all get back to the common goal of taking care of women’s health. Unfortunately, this issue has been around long before the Komen/Planned Parenthood flare-up, and will continue long after.
As long as women’s health is tied up with politics, there will be distractions and debates
—and as long as abortion is tied to women’s health, it will be tied up in politics.

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Erin Greenawald is a freelance writer, editor, and content strategist who is passionate about elevating the standard of writing on the web. Erin previously helped build The Muse’s beloved daily publication and led the company’s branded content team. If you’re an individual or company looking for help making your content better—or you just want to go out to tea—get in touch at eringreenawald.com.